Whitsunday Island is the largest island in the Whitsunday group of islands

Whitsunday Islands

The Whitsunday Islands are a collection of continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, situated between just south of Bowen and to the north of Mackay, some north of Brisbane. The island group is centred on Whitsunday Island, while the group's commercial...

 located off the coast of Central Queensland

Central Queensland

Central Queensland is an ambiguous geographical division of Queensland that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton and the Capricorn Coast and the area extends west to the Central Highlands at Emerald, north to the Mackay Regional...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Whitsunday Island is located at 20°15′S 148°58′E. The island contains many popular destinations for both day visitors and overnight sailors, including the magnificent pure-white sands of Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach is a 7 km stretch along Whitsunday Island. The island is accessible by boat from the mainland tourist ports of Airlie Beach and Shute Harbour, as well as Hamilton Island....

 and Hill Inlet, the secure anchorage of Cid Harbour, and the sheltered waterway of Gulnare Inlet. Whitehaven Beach was rated as the top Eco Friendly Beach in the world by CNN.com in July 2010.

The island is accessible by boat from the mainland tourist ports of Airlie Beach and Shute Harbour

Shute Harbour

Shute Harbour is a sheltered port for small vessels located approximately 10 kilometres east of Airlie Beach on the Whitsunday Coast of Queensland, Australia...

.

Captain James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

 named the island in early June 1770. This island should not be confused with Pinaki

Pinaki (French Polynesia)

Pinaki or Te Kiekie is a small atoll of the Tuamotu group in French Polynesia. Geographically Pinaki Atoll is part of the East-central subgroup of the Tuamotus, which includes Ahunui, Amanu, Fangatau, Hao and Nukutavake....

 in the Tuamotu group which was named "Whitsunday Island" by Samuel Wallis

Samuel Wallis

Samuel Wallis was a Cornish navigator who circumnavigated the world.Wallis was born near Camelford, Cornwall. In 1766 he was given the command of HMS Dolphin to circumnavigate the world, accompanied by the Swallow under the command of Philip Carteret...

 in 1767.

Whitsunday Island covers 27508 hectare in area. The island has six campgrounds.

Around the northern bays of the island are seagrass

Seagrass

Seagrasses are flowering plants from one of four plant families , all in the order Alismatales , which grow in marine, fully saline environments.-Ecology:...

 beds which support a diverse range of marine life. Unadorned Rock-wallabies

Unadorned Rock-wallaby

The Unadorned Rock-wallaby is a member of a group of closely related rock-wallabies found in northeastern Queensland, Australia. It is paler than most of its relatives and even plainer, hence its common name....

 are found on the island.

See also

• List of islands of Australia
• Whitsunday Islands National Park
  Whitsunday Islands National Park
  Whitsunday Islands is a national park in Queensland, Australia, northwest of Brisbane. It has beautiful scenery and also has a few walks that are open to any one that camps on the islands. To camp on the islands visitors need to book a site....